Letter 8020: Ad eundem precatoria pro ipso agro

Prayers for the Farm Gregory Gave You are retracing the acts of generous Martin [Saint Martin of Tours, the 4th-century bishop who famously gave half his military cloak to a beggar], Gregory — as he covered us with his garment, you feed us with food. A wise disciple imitates his peaceful master: where the leader resides, the soldier will have help. As he divided his cloak before, so you divide the small farm — he mighty in covering, you fitting in nourishing. He relieved the ancient poor man; you, dear one, relieve the new one: whoever becomes rich is rightly enriched through his poor man. When the Lord comes [at the Last Judgment], let the field you gave speak for you. Let the acres that fed Fortunatus stand as a witness to your generosity. Let Martin, whose imitator you are, present you to Christ as one who has done as he did. May the harvest of this field, small as it is, be multiplied in heaven according to the promise — to him who gives to the least of these.

XX Ad eundem precatoria pro ipso agro Munifici reparans Martini gesta, Gregori, texit ut ille habitu nos alis ipse cibo. discipulus placidum sapiens imitando magistrum ille ubi dux residet miles habebis opem. ut chlamydem ille prius, sic tu partiris agellum, ille tegendo potens tuque fovendo decens, ille inopem antiquum relevans, tu, care, novellum: fit dives merito paupere quisque suo. quando reposcetur, vestris redit usibus arvum et domino proprio restituemus agrum. unde amplas refero grates, dulcissime rector, et repeto pangens haec, tua, pastor, ovis. nec tantum reddo quantum tibi debeo, praesul: pro Fortunato sed, rogo, flecte deum.